Kate Expectations: The World Still Can’t Get Her Name Right

Four months ago, sitting in front of a camera for the first time as the editor of my own newsletter, I did something I have done on autopilot for the better part of 24 years working in America. I called her Kate. Princess Kate. I didn’t pause over it, didn’t weigh it, didn’t think about it for a single second… it was just the word that came out, the same way you don’t think about how you say your own name.

Then the comments arrived.

Article continues below advertisement

Not a hate attack exactly. More like a small, well-drilled battalion of what I can only describe as loyal royalists, the sort who treat Debrett’s (the infamous British institution founded in 1769 that is an authority on modern etiquette) like a statute book and quote royal protocol the way a barrister (fancy British lawyer in a wig) quotes case law.

Comments rolled in like “this royal commentator is bulls--t, he can’t even get her name right” and “her name is CATHERINE, have some respect,” again and again, with the weary patience of people who have been waiting years for someone in the press to get it right.

Article continues below advertisement

Article continues below advertisement

So here’s the full story as to why Kate isn’t called Catherine in America, and where I’m landing from now on…

Subscribe to Celebrity Intelligence’s paid tier to read on.